Vaughn Palmer: Governments here, not Trump, to blame for most forest sector woes

Forests Minister Ravi Parmar leaves the chamber at the legislature. Photo by Chad Hipolito /POSTMEDIA

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VICTORIA — B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar couldn’t wait to change the subject this week when confronted with a federal government report that said the troubles of the whole country’s forest industry are mostly homegrown.

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But those words were barely out of his mouth when Parmar pivoted to the NDP government’s preferred blame line for the ruinous state of the once-dominant industry.

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“I would also argue that duties and tariffs compound that and, in particular in the case of British Columbia, make it very challenging.

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Yes, Trump and tariffs. And when that fails, blame wildfires and the pine beetle infestation. Anything but admit the provincial government’s regulatory regime in driving up production costs and restricting access to marketable fibre.

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But there was no downplaying the final report of Canadian forest sector transformation task force, released at a meeting of the country’s forest ministers in Parmar’s own riding of Langford.

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“Over the past two decades, Canada has experienced declining production, capital flight, prolonged mill closures, and weakened investor and workforce confidence,” said the executive summary of the 60-page report.

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“While external pressures — most notably sustained U.S. softwood lumber duties, global market shifts, insect outbreaks, and wildland fire — have exacerbated these challenges, the task force’s conclusion is unequivocal: The most significant barriers to competitiveness are homegrown.”

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Those homegrown barriers “include unstable access to cost-competitive fibre, regulatory burdens disproportionate to risk, chronic underinvestment in manufacturing assets, weak deployment-focused innovation capacity, and inadequately developed domestic demand for wood-based products.”

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“Absent immediate, co-ordinated, and decisive action, the forest sector faces an existential risk,” the report warned. “For too long Canadians have blamed distant others for matters for which we must be held to account. That must end if the trajectory of Canada’s forest sector is to change.”

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They did not let the industry off the hook.

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“By and large Canada’s forest industry played a high-stakes game of chicken, keeping costs and investment as low as possible, trying to shift the social burden onto governments, and aiming to become the last mill standing in any given region or product line.”

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But the industry was not alone in driving investment elsewhere and making production uncompetitive here at home.

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“The basic costs associated with accessing fibre and sawmilling are relatively competitive in Canada — on average roughly 15 per cent to 20 per cent less than in the U.S. South — despite what in many cases are smaller diameter trees.